Roofs and decks, for example those formed from timber, metal (steel) or concrete are usually provided with a weatherproof or water resistant coating. Weatherproof coatings are known which comprise one or more layers of bitumenized felt, nailed or adhered to the surface of the roof. Such coatings are relatively easy to apply with the felt being supplied in rolls of about 1 meter wide which are simply unrolled across the roof and secured with nails and/or bitumen adhesive applied by brushing. However, unless great care is taken to ensure that the felt, as it is unrolled is firmly bonded to the roof or deck or to a previous layer of felt, especially at the seams, points of potential weakness may occur and the waterproof coating may fail. These roofing or deck coating materials are also known as roofing membranes.
Roofing membranes containing vinyl chloride polymers in conjunction with external plasticizers are known. However, such products have a number of shortcomings, the plasticizer can migrate from the membrane causing embrittlement and possible shrinkage with the passing of time. Also, the presence of the external plasticizer can cause incompatibility between the membrane or nonwoven roofing material and adjacent roofing material such as film insulation, coal tar bonding substances and the like. Incompatibility will manifest itself by the lack of secure bonding between the nonwoven material and the adjacent materials therefore allowing the penetration of moisture into the interior of the building or deck. Accordingly, a new nonwoven roofing or deck material has been developed from melt spun fibers which comprises a linear alternating polyketone polymer of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon which has been embedded and/or covered in an adhering material, such as asphalt.
The general class of polymers of carbon monoxide and/or one or more ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbons, known as polyketones have been known for some years. Brubaker U.S. Pat. No. 2,495,286 produced such polymers of relatively low carbon monoxide content in the presence of free-radical initiators such as benzoyl peroxide. British Pat. No. 1,081,304 produced such polymers of higher carbon monoxide content in the presence of alkylphosphine complexes of palladium as catalyst. Nozaki extended the process to produce linear alternating polymers in the presence of arylphosphine complexes of palladium. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,412.
More recently the class of linear alternating polymers of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon has become of greater interest in part because of the availability of the polymers. These polymers often referred to as polyketone or polyketone polymers have been shown to be of the repeating formula --CO(A)-- where A is the moiety of an ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon polymerized through the ethylenic unsaturation. For example, when the ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon is ethylene, the polymer will be represented by the repeating formula --CO--(CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2)--. The general process for the more recent production of such polymers is illustrated by a number of published European Patent Applications including 121,965 and 181,014. These processes typically involve a catalyst composition formed from a compound of the Group VIII metals, palladium, cobalt or nickel, the anion of a strong non-hydrohalogenic acid having a pKa below 6 and a bidentate ligand of phosphorus, arsenic or antimony.
The resulting polyketone polymers are relatively high molecular weight thermoplastics having utility in the roofing industry and in the construction industry. The novel polyketone polymers, when formed into a mat and adhered to a roof or deck with an adhering material, such as a bitumen composition, result in a waterproof roofing compound capable of strength, some flame resistance as well as abrasion resistance.